65 gallon planted tank - setup journal

This is a discussion on 65 gallon planted tank - setup journal within the Beginner Freshwater Aquarium forums, part of the Freshwater Fish and Aquariums category; -->
Awesome tank, completely gorgeous :) Good job....

I got three Farlowella. They seem to be happy - eating a bunch, coming down to eat the prepared food and pellets and zucchini, grazing on plants and glass. There was some initial hiding and shyness but that didn't last long - maybe 3 days. I can tell each of them apart, and one of them (Slim) was the last for me to see eat prepared food, and once I saw him on an algae wafer, I felt better. ;) I have read that they'll be outcompeted at feeding time but they get right in there now with the Gobies and the Kuhlis no problem.

The Gertrudae Rainbows are growing fairly quickly... they are now starting to display more to each other and they're already beautiful doing it... now for them to grow just a bit more to fully appreciate it.

The Rainbows actually seem to like the increase in temperature that I've raised it to recently because there's been a bout of ich. (Ugh) Currently treating it right now, and anytime there's an issue I worry. Hopefully everyone will come out of it OK. I worry about the Farlowella and the Kuhlis with the Coppersafe treatment. The Ricefish are hit the worst with it, which is interesting because they've always seemed the most boisterous and bomb-proof in the tank.

Also, yesterday, even amidst this ich treatment - I saw a tiny little fry!!!
It had blue eyes so it was either a Ricefish or a Rainbowfish. I would assume Ricefish because the Rainbows are still so small yet, but the Ricefish are sick and not very active, so who knows. Either way -so exciting! I should read up on what to do with fry and how to raise them - that might be fun to try if I could find them and separate soon enough. I suppose I'd need a little tank with heater and filter and all... or can I get some kind of contained area to keep them in the main tank to grow out? I only saw one, but it was up in the floating plants so it's hard to see if there are more. I'm sure they've become or will become dinner right now. I have frozen baby brine shrimp and tried to put some near it, just in case.

OK, a whole bunch of photos.

They fed them cucumber and zucchini at the LFS so there was no break-in period there. The kuhlis like zucchini, too.

The Kuhlis and a Twig seeing what's left of the zucchini the next morning. They even nibbled at the skin until it was mostly gone.

Rainbow checking to see if there'll be any edible flotsam kicked up. They hover around the bottom feeders when they're eating algae/veggie/shrimp pellets and they snatch up small crumbs behind them. Pretty clever if you ask me.

Sharing with the female goby.

I'm camoflauged

Ricefish, Rainbows, both gobies, and a twiggy

Ricefish with ich.

Not a great shot, but there are 5 species in it: Goby, Ricefish, Rainbowfish, Pencilfish, Farlowella. (Dinnertime)

I have a DSLR and am still experimenting trying to figure out how to take good clear photos. I'm a novice at it so mostly trial and error ;) I have a tripod with a shutter release remote to keep it perfectly still, I do this because I don't want to use the flash as it really changes the colors of the tank (and the fish hate it). But... of course that means a slower shutter speed and as we all know fish don't sit still for pictures =)

On the fry: when you see one or two or three fry appear in a community tank, I would just leave them. By the time they are to the size that they are out and about and visible, they will almost certainly survive. My Coral Red pencilfish, Nannostomus mortenthaleri, spawn regularly, and a couple weeks ago I spotted a fry and then a few days later saw two together. The adults ignore them (they are currently busy spawning again) and the fry don't seem nervous in their out-and-about searching for food. There is a lot of natural food in a planted and established tank, and the fry that survive predation during the egg stage or immediately post-hatching will be fine.

Sometimes narrowing down what they are can be difficult. The two fry I have do not yet look in the least like the pencil adults, aside from being linear, but there is nothing else in this tank that they resemble either--pygmy hatchetfish, dwarf banded loach, dwarf loach, pygmy Cory--so I've concluded they must be pencils.

If you want to raise larger number of them, observing the parents to ascertain possible "pairs" and moving them to a separate spawning tank is usually the best method.

I have a DSLR and am still experimenting trying to figure out how to take good clear photos. I'm a novice at it so mostly trial and error ;) I have a tripod with a shutter release remote to keep it perfectly still, I do this because I don't want to use the flash as it really changes the colors of the tank (and the fish hate it). But... of course that means a slower shutter speed and as we all know fish don't sit still for pictures =)

I use a Nikon D7000 and a 28-200 lens. This camera performs better in lower light than my prior D50. I'm still experimenting with which settings to use myself.... I haven't used a tripod, but that's a great idea. I shoot in aperture priority, auto ISO, and see what I can get away with depending on where in the tank I'm shooting. I try to use a large aperture so that the shutter speed can be faster, but of course sometimes that really makes a very small depth of field/focus. I've tried to shoot totally manually and also with shutter priority but I keep coming back to aperture priority with auto ISO. Still need to keep messing with it, though. I've found that it's tough to shoot through too much water or you get some distortion. Also, it can be hard for the camera to focus - sometimes it wants to choose the front glass or one of the many plants, so I've tried both manual and auto focus.

I also agree re: the flash, which makes it harder. I'm wondering if it would work to use a flash but diffuse it with some tissue paper or something so it's not so harsh or that it doesn't scare the fish? Although the few times I tried the flash, they didn't seem overly bothered by it, actually.

As you can see, my sharpest shots so far are those of the more still fish. Hatchets, twigs, gobies are much easier to shoot than the little fast rainbows.

Of course, I also take about 5782 photos to get 10 that are sharp, especially when shooting the movers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byron

On the fry: when you see one or two or three fry appear in a community tank, I would just leave them. By the time they are to the size that they are out and about and visible, they will almost certainly survive. My Coral Red pencilfish, Nannostomus mortenthaleri, spawn regularly, and a couple weeks ago I spotted a fry and then a few days later saw two together. The adults ignore them (they are currently busy spawning again) and the fry don't seem nervous in their out-and-about searching for food. There is a lot of natural food in a planted and established tank, and the fry that survive predation during the egg stage or immediately post-hatching will be fine.

Sometimes narrowing down what they are can be difficult. The two fry I have do not yet look in the least like the pencil adults, aside from being linear, but there is nothing else in this tank that they resemble either--pygmy hatchetfish, dwarf banded loach, dwarf loach, pygmy Cory--so I've concluded they must be pencils.

If you want to raise larger number of them, observing the parents to ascertain possible "pairs" and moving them to a separate spawning tank is usually the best method.

Byron.

Thanks! I saw a fry last night, still. I still can't believe it's happening with the Coppersafe in there. I guess that shows you that it's not insanely toxic, or I don't think the fry would be alive. It's hard to find them in the floating plants... but that's probably why they / it is still alive, I guess. It makes me most happy because to me a fish wouldn't spawn unless it was comfortable. (right?)

I'll keep you updated!

I'm no longer seeing the ich spots on any of the fish. It has been exactly one week since I dosed the tank with Coppersafe, but it was only about 82-83 for the first few days. Should I give it another few days before dropping the heat down, and then changing the water, or should I drop the heat down now/tomorrow and go with the original plan?

My fish definitely aren't as happy with the temps up that high, with the exception being the Rainbowfish, who seem to love it. Everyone else is a bit less active. No one seems super stressed, but for example the Pencilfish are hanging out in the plants more, with lots less time out in the open. The Hatchets are a bit lighter in their markings. They're not pale, but they're not as happy. The kuhlis are hiding more during the day. Those types of things. I'm ready to drop the temps again, but I don't want to do it prematurely....